Collecting trees in summer??

[Linn01]

Hello all,

Next week I will be visiting my father who lives in southwest France (usda zone 9a). He has some sort of forest next to a river where several interesting trees (mostly oaks, beeches, maples, elms and scots pines) can be found.

The Lot river Valley's flora

Discover the flora of the Lot Valley in Lozere

www.aubrac-gorgesdutarn.com

Assumed I can find some candidates to take home (usda zone 8b), is it possible to collect trees in august? Or would that be a certain death?

Thanks in advance.

 

[augustine]

some people will say yes but it's best to wait til spring

 

[HorseloverFat]

While you CAN collect trees any time you want, given you can provide the conditions and aftercare necessary for a proper recovery..

It is WAAAAAAY easier to plan your collection around those two times, yearly (early spring/autumn), in which conditions are MOST suited to aid in the collection process... working with the natural rhythm of the tree..

And if your newer to this (or hort), the difficulties that come with “off-time” collection, are often fatal for the plant..

Spring is best.... if you can..

Fall works, also.

 

[Paradox]

Collecting in the summer during the hottest time of the year is highly risky.
Best to wait until spring when the chances of survival are much better

 

[_space_bard_]

There were a couple 2 year old Siberian Elm saplings growing alongside my houses foundation. Obviously they had to go. In early July I yanked them out like I was pulling Excalibur from the stone...caveman yamadori style. Threw them in a leftover plastic nursery pot near my front door and let my dogs piss on the trees every time I took them out for a walk to try and balance out the Ph of the soil. I figured the motor oil soaked soil from my yard, that I put them in, was probably a little too acidic. They're still alive, and I'll probably put them in a colander with some DE in spring. For right now though, I'm trying to recreate the harsh urban conditions that these trees are subjected to in my area. I plan on going around and picking up cigarette butts to use as a top layer, like the alleyways I see them thrive in. Although Siberian Elms are originally from China, and not Russia, I wanted to make sure they live up to the Siberian name they were given. A few years from now when people ask "how did your young trees develop such an aged and rough texture to the bark, despite being so young?" I'll reply "When I fertilize them once a week, I pour a couple drams of bottom shelf vodka into the water."

There are a lot of BNUT members with years of experience and knowledge. I went through some topics and posts from some of the more active ones and for better or worse, decided that I will follow @sorce 's style of Bonsai techniques.

For every other tree? Probably best to wait for spring. But for the tree version of the Russian dude from Armageddon? Go for it (imo)

 

[Paradox]

There were a couple 2 year old Siberian Elm saplings growing alongside my houses foundation. Obviously they had to go. In early July I yanked them out like I was pulling Excalibur from the stone...caveman yamadori style. Threw them in a leftover plastic nursery pot near my front door and let my dogs piss on the trees every time I took them out for a walk to try and balance out the Ph of the soil. I figured the motor oil soaked soil from my yard, that I put them in, was probably a little too acidic. They're still alive, and I'll probably put them in a colander with some DE in spring. For right now though, I'm trying to recreate the harsh urban conditions that these trees are subjected to in my area. I plan on going around and picking up cigarette butts to use as a top layer, like the alleyways I see them thrive in. Although Siberian Elms are originally from China, and not Russia, I wanted to make sure they live up to the Siberian name they were given. A few years from now when people ask "how did your young trees develop such an aged and rough texture to the bark, despite being so young?" I'll reply "When I fertilize them once a week, I pour a couple drams of bottom shelf vodka into the water."

There are a lot of BNUT members with years of experience and knowledge. I went through some topics and posts from some of the more active ones and for better or worse, decided that I will follow @sorce 's style of Bonsai techniques.

For every other tree? Probably best to wait for spring. But for the tree version of the Russian dude from Armageddon? Go for it (imo)

lol
good luck
You're gona need it

 

[rockm]

A rule of thumb (and I'm not trying to be a smartass, but it will sound like it)--if you have to ask if it's OK to do it, it's probably not. Summer collection isn't ideal for experienced collectors. It throws a lot of extras into a recovery--storing for the winter is a primary concern, adequate aftercare in the winter isn't an easy thing to do. You mostly can't leave a tree that's had its roots removed out in the weather. Even it you don't have freezes where you're keeping the trees, you're going to have to provide water (not too much, not too little) throughout the winter. What's the rush anyway? is the land the trees are on destined for development or sale? If not, waiting until spring and another visit to your father's place will probably result in live trees.

 

[Pitoon]

I would avoid collecting anything now that's been growing in the ground. Now's the time to walk and tag trees to pull up the end of winter/beginning of spring.

 

[_space_bard_]

lol
good luck
You're gona need it

I'm trying to cultivate high powered mutant Bonsai. I picked up a Japanese Honeysuckle for 50% off at Ace. I was going to plant it in the ground to fatten up some before digging it up, but I was too lazy to run another drip line in my yard, so I planted it about 6" from the base of a cherry 100 tomato bush that I put in a big wooden planter I built out of scrap wood a couple years ago. I want to see which weed specimen wins as they fight for dominance of the box. My money is on the Cherry 100, even though I want the honeysuckle to win.

 

[Linn01]

Thanks all. I could not resist the temptation since I only visit this place once a year in august. I collected three specimens:

- Tillia cordata (or europea?)
- Quercus (not sure wich kind, I think robur), seems to have mildew
- Carpinus betulus

I will keep a close eye on them. Fingers crossed.

 

[BobbyLane]

with those species, no its not 'certain death' if you collected them now. they will fare much better if you got a decent amount of roots on each though, but unfortunately most never do. if they dont make it, no worries. try again at another time, preferably spring.

there are some who will successfully collect deciduous trees through sept to dec here in the UK. is your climate in Belguim much different to the UK? probably not.

Articles – Bonsai4Me

bonsai4me.com

they say spring is the 'best' time but its not the only time.

funny enough if you consulted a gardener/landscaper about collecting times they would say this
November to March is the ideal time to plant bare-root plants. These are plants that have been been grown in open ground, then dug up for despatch and planting during the dormant season. They are called 'bare-root' plants as they are supplied with no soil around their roots.

and this is usually when i go to buy trees that were just dug up out of the field with a mechanical digger. the key is, they get large root balls. but then i usually have to reduce these rootballs considerably to make them easy to manage. most are growing fine by the following spring. the only aftercare i do, if you want to call it that. is i cover the surface with sphagnum moss and i feed with fish emulsion and sea weed all year around. Harry harrington uses a polytunnel/greenhouse i dont have that luxury.
i think you will find that also in Croatia they do their collecting and repotting from nov onwards. their climate is slightly warmer than the UK but still not drastically different.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Only when I got all the way to the end of this did I realize that you have a dog and not a beard.

There were a couple 2 year old Siberian Elm saplings growing alongside my houses foundation. Obviously they had to go. In early July I yanked them out like I was pulling Excalibur from the stone...caveman yamadori style. Threw them in a leftover plastic nursery pot near my front door and let my dogs piss on the trees every time I took them out for a walk to try and balance out the Ph of the soil. I figured the motor oil soaked soil from my yard, that I put them in, was probably a little too acidic. They're still alive, and I'll probably put them in a colander with some DE in spring. For right now though, I'm trying to recreate the harsh urban conditions that these trees are subjected to in my area. I plan on going around and picking up cigarette butts to use as a top layer, like the alleyways I see them thrive in. Although Siberian Elms are originally from China, and not Russia, I wanted to make sure they live up to the Siberian name they were given. A few years from now when people ask "how did your young trees develop such an aged and rough texture to the bark, despite being so young?" I'll reply "When I fertilize them once a week, I pour a couple drams of bottom shelf vodka into the water."

There are a lot of BNUT members with years of experience and knowledge. I went through some topics and posts from some of the more active ones and for better or worse, decided that I will follow @sorce 's style of Bonsai techniques.

For every other tree? Probably best to wait for spring. But for the tree version of the Russian dude from Armageddon? Go for it (imo)

 

[Linn01]

with those species, no its not 'certain death' if you collected them now. they will fare much better if you got a decent amount of roots on each though, but unfortunately most never do. if they dont make it, no worries. try again at another time, preferably spring.

there are some who will successfully collect deciduous trees through sept to dec here in the UK. is your climate in Belguim much different to the UK? probably not.

Articles – Bonsai4Me

bonsai4me.com

they say spring is the 'best' time but its not the only time.

funny enough if you consulted a gardener/landscaper about collecting times they would say this
November to March is the ideal time to plant bare-root plants. These are plants that have been been grown in open ground, then dug up for despatch and planting during the dormant season. They are called 'bare-root' plants as they are supplied with no soil around their roots.

and this is usually when i go to buy trees that were just dug up out of the field with a mechanical digger. the key is, they get large root balls. but then i usually have to reduce these rootballs considerably to make them easy to manage. most are growing fine by the following spring. the only aftercare i do, if you want to call it that. is i cover the surface with sphagnum moss and i feed with fish emulsion and sea weed all year around. Harry harrington uses a polytunnel/greenhouse i dont have that luxury.
i think you will find that also in Croatia they do their collecting and repotting from nov onwards. their climate is slightly warmer than the UK but still not drastically different.

Tnx Bobbylane! End of august might just be as good as early sept. Unfortunately, while reading the article of bonsai4me, I realised that I might have made a mistake by combining the collecting with a vigourous trunk chop, thus minimising the number of leaves. Trees were collected in southwest France and are now in Belgium. I will post some pics asap.

 

[_space_bard_]

Only when I got all the way to the end of this did I realize that you have a dog and not a beard.

I have both sometimes.

 

[Drewski]

I have both sometimes.

The first time I saw your avatar I thought, ‘Why is he wearing a bow tie across his chin?’

 

[Linn01]

The pics of the trees in question

 

[BobbyLane]

they look very young, nothing to lose if they dont make it really, but you will of gained experience for next time. i would just leave them in shade and dont let soil dry out, you wont need to water much at this stage of season and plus the medium is already very moisture retentive.

 

[HoneyHornet]

Collected this swamp maple and little Holly a couple weeks ago and it is doing perfectly fine as we speak